Customs department has decided to launch a statewide crackdown on export houses to detect commercial frauds, which were causing yearly losses of around Rs 200 crore to the state exchequer.

"The department is working on a case in which the export house had gained drawbacks to the tune of Rs 33 crore by over-invoicing goods, including textiles, garments and carpets," said additional commissioner customs SM Akhtar, while talking to TOI on Monday.

He said the department had information that several export houses in cities like Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Amritsar etc were indulging in under-invoicing of imports and over-invoicing of exports to benefit from government's polices framed for the encouragement of importers and exporters.

"In another case, the owners of Intech Export, Jalandhar, voluntarily deposited nearly Rs 3.5 lakh with the customs department after admitting their mistake following detection by the department.

The party was exporting ready to use steel pipes to a party in UK, but had declared the product as rollable steel pipes, which has lesser drawback rates," he said.

The additional commissioner said that the department apprehended that more than 50% of the export houses were indulging in dubious deals and were causing loss to the exchequer to the tune of Rs 200 crore per year.

He said that following detection of these cases the department had decided to launch a statewide operation to crackdown upon such firms. "We will also strengthen the vigilance mechanism and make it transparent by computerizing the whole system," he said.

"Most of these export houses have done dubious deals in countries like Dubai, Sharjah, UAE and Russia, whereas, such practice is lesser in countries like UK, Australia and USA due to stringent rules there," he said.